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Kuala Lumpur: For the first time ever, a reigning women's singles world champion will be seen in badminton action in India. Zhu Lin of China, who won the World Badminton Championships on Sunday, heads the field for the Yonex Sunrise India Open, to be held September 5-9 at Kotla Vijaya Bhaskar Reddy Indoor Stadium in Hyderabad.

China has entered a strong squad for the event. It includes the women's doubles world champions Yang Wei and Zhang Jiewen along with Bao Chunlai and Chen Yu, both semi-finalists at the world championships.

The Chinese have sent an 18-member team, which is second only to India's 34-member squad. The Grand Prix Gold event, the draw for which was released by the International Badminton Federation (IBF) on Wednesday, offers prize money of $150,000.

Zhu Lin is likely to face compatriot and world number seven Lu Lan, Asian Games silver medallist Yip Pui Yin and world number 15 Juliane Schenk of Germany in the event.

National champion Saina Nehwal spearheads the Indian challenge. So impressive is the field that former All England champion Prakash Padukone conceded it was the most competitive he'd seen in the country.

"In terms of numbers, the draw is not big but it has attracted some of the most high-profile players. It will be competitive from the first round itself. I can't think of any other tournament in the country that has attracted a similar field. Also, the Chinese representation here in an Open event is the best since the 1976 Asian Badminton Confederation (ABC) championships," he said.

The men's singles event has also attracted several stars including Olympic and Asian Games champion Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia and Malaysian world number three Lee Chong Wei - winner of the Indonesian Open Super Series in 2007.

Others who have confirmed their participation are world no 5 Bao Chunlai and no 7 Chen Yu of China, former All England champion Hafiz bin Hashim and Wong Choong Hann of Malaysia, Park Sung Hwan and Lee Hyun Il of South Korea. All these players figure in the top 20 of the world rankings.

India's Anup Sridhar, who enjoyed a fine run at the world championships, has a potentially tough first round opponent in Malaysian Kuan Beng Hong, who reached the final of the ABC championships in Hyderabad two years ago. If Anup makes it to the third round, he is drawn to meet Chen Yu.

The top seeds in the men's doubles will be the Indonesian pair of Candra Wijaya and Tony Gunawan, while two teams each from Malaysia and South Korea will provide them stiff competition.

The Indian challenge will come from Sanave Thomas and Rupesh Kumar and V. Diju and Akshay Diwalkar.

World champions Yang Wei and Zhang Jiewen will be the top seeds in the women's doubles event, with compatriots Jiang Yanmei and Li Yujia and Indonesia's Greysia Polii and Jo Novita expected to challenge them for the title. The mixed doubles competition, however, is short of big names.

Indonesian badminton legend Rudy Hartono, winner of eight All England titles, reaches Hyderabad on Saturday to help the event's organisers, according to the tournament's organising secretary Punnaiah Choudary who confirmed that all the arrangements are on schedule. (IANS)

I wont be surprised if CHN decided to withdraw ZL from Indian Open as her name is registerd prior to winning WC.( I hope not)...CHN may send her for Japan and Taiwan open( her name is listed for Taiwan open )....i think it will be tiring for ZL or Lu Lan to play 3 tournaments in a row....

I wont be surprised if CHN decided to withdraw ZL from Indian Open as her name is registerd prior to winning WC.( I hope not)...CHN may send her for Japan and Taiwan open( her name is listed for Taiwan open )....i think it will be tiring for ZL or Lu Lan to play 3 tournaments in a row....

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Yes i agree. It will be better to send her to Japan Open. Taiwan Open very unlikely.

I wont be surprised if CHN decided to withdraw ZL from Indian Open as her name is registerd prior to winning WC.( I hope not)...CHN may send her for Japan and Taiwan open( her name is listed for Taiwan open )....i think it will be tiring for ZL or Lu Lan to play 3 tournaments in a row....

Since the 2008 Olympics qualification rule is to give one country a maximum of 3 spots if that particular country have 3 players/pairs in the top 4 of the world [in that particular category]...

Then it is possible that LYB plan to load up the top 4 of the world in WS by... separating the Gold GP tournaments that Lu Lan - Zhu Lin attend with the ones that Xie Xinfang - Zhang Ning attend... Naturally, in LYB's mind, his 2 top-notch girls per tournament can both reach the finals thus getting maximum ranking points...

In Superseries events, all four girls have to play in order to get to play in the Superseries finals... I suppose...

Hey wait a minute, I think LYB is doing the same thing in MS: Chen Yu - Bao Chunlai is in India, Lin Dan - Chen Jin is not. Maybe the latter two will go Chinese Taipei Open? And all might go to Japan Superseries...

Hey wait a minute, I think LYB is doing the same thing in MS: Chen Yu - Bao Chunlai is in India, Lin Dan - Chen Jin is not. Maybe the latter two will go Chinese Taipei Open? And all might go to Japan Superseries...

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Hi Krisna,

Here is another article, this time from NewKerala.com

====== start article ======

NewKerala.com
Indian open mascot unveiled

Hyderabad, Aug 25: A galaxy of stars, led by top seeds Chong Wei Lee of Malaysia and Zhu Lin of China, will vie for honours in the 1,50,000 dollar Yonex-Sunrise Indian Open Badminton Championship to be held here from September 5 to 9.

Talking to newspersons after unveiling the tournament mascot 'India the Rising Tiger' and logo, Andhra Pradesh Sports Minister R Damodara Reddy said, ''This is the biggest tournament in the history of Indian badminton and has attracted almost all top players in the world."

''Former world champion, Olympic and Asian champion Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia, world number three Lee Chong Wei from Malaysia, who won the Indonesian Super Series this year, world number five Bao Chunlai and number seven Chen Yu of China, former All England Champion Hafiz bin Hashim and Wong Choong Hann of Malaysia, Park Sung Hwan and Lee Hyun of South Korea have confirmed their entries in the men's singles.

''For the first time, reigning women's world champion Zhu Lin of China would be seen in action in India. Besides, second seed Lu Lan of China, third seed Yip Pul Yin of Hongkong and fourth seed Julian Schenk of Germany would also be seen in action in the women's singles.

''Indian sensation Anup Sridhar, who is in excellent form, will lead the country's challenge in the men's section along with national champion Chetan Anand, Anand Pawar, Nikhil Kanetkar, Saurav Kapoor, Jishnu Sanyal, P Kashyap, Rajinder Singh and Rohan Castilino,'' he said.

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